Urban Wire, February 21, 2020: Breaking Down the Black-White Homeownership Gap
Since the Great Recession, the gap between the Black and White homeownership rates in the United States has increased to its highest level in 50 years, from 28.1 percentage points in 2010 to 30.1 percentage points in 2017.
Not all metropolitan areas have similar homeownership gaps. Among the 105 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with more than 40,000 Black residents, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, had the largest homeownership gap (51 percentage points), and Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, South Carolina, had the smallest homeownership gap (15 percentage points).
About one-third of Black households earn less than $25,000, and about 18% of White households are below this income threshold. In addition, the homeownership gap is larger among low-income households than among high-income households; the gap is less than 10 percentage points for households earning more than $150,000, and it is about 27 percentage points for households earning less than $50,000.
For both Black and White households, the homeownership rate is associated with educational attainment, but once we control for income, education is not strongly related to homeownership.
As we continue to raise alarms about how the decline in Black homeownership threatens to exacerbate racial inequality for decades to come, this new report shines a light on critical areas of focus for policymakers at all levels. Strong collaboration, communication and persistent effort are also required among various national and local stakeholders.
